Still Waters
by Firehearted Shinobi
Summary: For all her lace dresses and porcelain teacups, Sharon is not like the other nobles. It's a good thing none of her friends are either.


For all her lace dresses and porcelain teacups, Sharon is not like the other nobles. She knows that her facade is near flawless, her speech is impeccably well kept and her every gesture when in the presence of other members of high society is quite tame, docile, feminine and ladylike. She does everything as is expected of her, when it is time for her to depart from one of these scarce meetings with the other members of the gentry she orders her manservant to follow her out the room as pleasantries and formalities are exchanged and he always bows politely and follows. Her curtsy is the last image any of the people remaining in the room witness and it is the ghostly image engraved in their memory of the heiress to Rainsworth. But she knows, as does everyone else that it is only the slightest glimpse of her nature. Break once told her: still waters run deep. Yes, she mused, it was very true indeed and it did not surprise her in the least coming from her manservant whose character was so multifaceted, much like her own.

She isn't like the other nobles. She thinks over it again during an idle morning while drinking from her teacup surrounded by her friends. Break is seated beside her and seems to be reading the newspaper but she knows that he is paying just enough attention to Gil and Alice's discussion on meat expenses so he can sneak in a snide remark on the off-hand. She knows he also keeps an eye out across the table to find an opportune moment to sneak a bite out of the cake that the maids had served Oz.

So as she drinks her tea and watches the whole scene with a strange fondness she realizes that she is surrounded by people who, just like her, are different from others supposedly like them. She watches as Alice walks up to Gil and tries to intimidate him by getting in his face, she tries to use the fact that he is seated as an advantage but the height distance generated still isn't enough to give her any real leverage over the tall man. As she watches this display she feels Break's long sleeve brush against her arm she turns to him and sees him tilt his single visible eyebrow just enough for her to see. He is insisting on his belief of stronger bonds between those two. She huffs and watches as he lifts a fork to his mouth, it isn't until she hears Oz's indignant cry that she realizes that Break has finally acquired his desired target and, from the looks of it, is enjoying it immensely even as Oz whines and complains.

Yes, they are all misfits: their past, the Baskervilles, the Chains, the Abyss. All of them are tied together by these things, the chains that bind them to each other as they tear them away from all the rest.

But even among them, she realizes, she isn't quite like them. She watches Oz go to try and force the other two to reconcile but it apparently isn't necessary; Gil's hand slides up and settles on Alice's head as they stare angrily at each other before dropping the argument completely. She can feel the knowing glances that Break is probably sending her way but promptly ignores it.

Yes, even in this ragtag group of friends she feels that sometimes they slip away from her. All of them with their hard pasts, the lies and the violence and the deceit that surrounded them so tightly. She was sheltered and nurtured in her family's estate, cared for by her mother and by Break. In fact, until she had found out about Pandora the darkest moment in her life had been finding Break, bloodied and broken, at her family's door to the abyss.

"Ojou-sama."

She blinks and turns to Break, the paper is up once again, and it serves as a barrier to keep the others from hearing him as he calls out to her.

"Is everything alright?" he speaks gently and she slowly comes back from her daze. Break tilts his lips ever so slightly into a smile as he watches her get her bearings back.

"Everything is-" she pauses for a moment and suddenly she's smiling. "Everything is perfectly fine, Break." He nods once, stares at her a moment longer and then turns back to his paper.

A few minutes later, Oz informs them that he and Alice are going to accompany Gil to his apartment in Leverriu so he can water the single potted plant that resides there with him. Break quips in a lighthearted comment on the number of plants Gil has single-handedly murdered in the last year, a subject which the young Duke is still very sensitive about and Sharon watches as Oz forcefully drags the furious man out the door, with Alice trailing behind them lazily. Break laughs lightly beside her and she giggles with him.

Silence rains down on the room and she sighs as she watches her friends get on a stagecoach through the window. Break has gotten up and is putting away the various dishes, cups and saucers, he finishes quickly and soon comes to stand behind her, both his sleeved hands resting on her shoulders as his bare fingers toy lightly with her collarbone.

"Sharon?"

She smiles, she knows she is not like the other nobles. They know nothing of Pandora, or the workings of the abyss and the creatures that reside in it. They do not befriend chains, and adopted scions of noble families, or boys who are supposed to have died years ago. They don't maintain close friendships with their servants nor do they take them as lovers. They certainly don't have legal contracts with chains or a body forever frozen in youth. But she can't help but think that despite all the pain that has come of it, she would never want to lead a life in which none of these things existed. So she leans her head back until she's leaning against Break's chest and she looks up at him with a bright smile on her face.

"I hear there's a new confectionery shop in town. Shall we, Break?"

His grin speaks for itself as he bows and offers his hand to help her up.


End file.
